The Challenge
by Angelamermaid
Summary: Cristina decides to challenge Owen. Written for the In the After hiatus fic battle.


Cristina wakes to the smell of fresh coffee and the sound of sizzling bacon. She smiles, and rolls out of bed, heading straight for the kitchen in her – no, _their_ apartment. Owen moved in yesterday.

"Morning roomie," she purrs, seeing Owen setting the table, dressed in just his boxers. She steps behind him, hugging him. "I can definitely get used to this every morning."

He chuckles. "At your service."

"I didn't even know I had bacon," she says, looking at the stove, her arms still around his waist.

"You didn't – I brought it with the last of my groceries. I'm going to go shopping later, if there's anything you need, write it on the list on the counter, okay?"

"Okay. I'm going to get freshened up, then eat this yummy breakfast that my yummy boyfriend made." She bestows a quick kiss between his shoulder blades before heading off to the bathroom.

-*-*-

After breakfast, Owen reminds her of the shopping list on the counter, while he goes off to shower. _I don't know why he wants me to add anything, he's the one who likes to cook_, she thinks. She picks up the list, reads it, and snickers.

"Look at all this healthy crap," she snorts, reading his neat handwriting. "And! _Man_ food. Five kinds of meat. Plus beer." Living with such a masculine man like Owen was going to require some adjustments.

A playful expression crosses her face. She writes one word at the bottom of his list, folds the paper, then places it on the counter triumphantly.

-*-*-

When he gets to the supermarket, Owen grabs a shopping cart, and pulls the folded grocery list from out of his jacket. He goes over it, carefully planning his route through the store.

His eyebrows go up when he reads the one word Cristina wrote – 'tampons'.

He laughs. _I bet she thinks this will scare me. Ha!_

-*-*-

Owen confidently pushes his cart into the feminine hygiene aisle, and strides forth, calmly scanning the shelves. He pauses when he spots the start of the tampon display.

And then his mouth falls open. "What the hell?" he says softly. He furrows his brow, staring at the variety of boxes and choices in front of him. He looks at the list again.

"Tampons," he mutters, rubbing his beard.

Owen takes a deep breath and steps back, hands on hips, scanning the boxes again. _Do I get light, regular? What is "super"? Which brand? Oh shit, there are different kinds of applicators?_

He shakes his head. Living with Cristina was going to be an adventure, for sure.

-*-*-

Cristina is lounging on the couch, working away on her laptop when Owen returns from shopping. He comes in with the first load of bags and dumps them on the counter, then kisses her in greeting, before going for the rest. She smirks and keeps her attention on the screen – even if she wanted to help unload his truck, he wouldn't let her.

She listens to him putting away the groceries, trying to keep her attention on her research. Finally, he approaches her. He puts a bag down on the coffee table.

She looks up at him and smiles expectantly. He nods, with a smile. He reaches into the bag and pulls out a large blue box of tampons. He puts it next to the bag on the coffee table. She smiles, impressed. Then he pulls out a pink box. She snorts in amusement. He puts the pink box next to the blue one, then pulls a white box out of the bag and places it next to the pink one. She grins hugely, then starts to laugh when he pulls out a yellow box and adds it to the collection.

"Next time, be more specific," he says, picking up the empty bag, blue eyes twinkling merrily.

"When I run out in _five years_?" she shrieks, gesturing to the tampon collection on the table. She's laughing so hard that her laptop almost falls off of her legs.

He shakes his head and chuckles. "From now on, I'm just going to write out the grocery list myself."

"Smart man," she laughs. "And well played." He grins cockily at her before heading off to the kitchen, probably to start grilling something. She watches him go, smiling, thinking that living together was definitely going to be challenging, and fun.


End file.
